Infection remains as one of the major complications associated with utilizing biomaterials. Surgical site infections account for approximately 14-16% of the 2.4-million nosocomial infections in the United States, with these infections resulting in increased patient morbidity and mortality. The inherent bulk properties of various biomaterials, including those that comprise sutures, provide a milieu for initial bacterial adhesion with subsequent biofilm production and growth. Once the pathogen(s) adheres to the biomaterial surface, treatment with antimicrobial agents is ineffective due to limited penetration of the agent through the bacterial biofilm. Thus, development of a novel infection-resistant suture biomaterial would provide a bacteriocidal environment at the material surface as well as in the surrounding tissue. The goal of this phase I project is to develop infection-resistant nylon, silk and polyester (Dacron) suture materials in vitro with optimum antimicrobial properties by employing textile-dyeing techniques to apply the benzene ring-structured antibiotics Ciprofloxacin (Cipro), Doxycycline and Linezolid. Our hypotheses are that benzene ring-based antibiotics can be used to "dye" biomedically-useful suture materials. Additionally, this uptake may be optimized, and that the resulting treated material will possess a slow, sustained release of antibiotic over a prolonged period of time, thereby providing clinically useful suture materials with improved infection-resistance. Data from our preliminary studies supports these hypotheses. The specific aims of this study are to: 1) optimize antibiotic dyeing conditions to nylon, silk and Dacron suture materials, 2) characterize the physical properties of the antibiotic-dyed suture materials, 3) determine antibiotic release under static/washing conditions via spectrophotometry and 4) examine antimicrobial activity of static and washed antibiotic-dyed suture materials. Based on the current infection rates in conjunction with the costs to treat these patients ($2,300/episode), surgical wound infection results in an annual cost to the healthcare system of greater than $750 million. Thus, a significant market exists for application of our technology in order to prevent wound infection. The long-term goal, which will be completed in phase II, will be to assess this technology in vivo in order to determine infection-resistance in a wound injury model.